Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has finally had his say on one of the great football debates of our time - Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi?

The two stars have been butting heads as the two best players in the world since before Ronaldo arrived at Real Madrid for £80million in 2009.

The two players have won every Ballon d'Or since 2008, with Messi winning four in a row and Ronaldo three - the pair have also been the runners-up in the award in six of those seven years.

The two forwards continue to break records in Spain and have led their clubs to the Champions League semi-finals this season.

Ferguson, speaking to 1991 world snooker champion John Parrott for the BBC, Ferguson revealed who he preferred out of the two stars.

"Ronaldo is the biggest improvement really because he came as a young skinny kid at 17 and he had all these things about him," said the Scot, who won 13 Premier League titles at Old Trafford.

"People used to criticise him for diving and all the rest of it, but once the players got about him on the training pitch he was fantastic. The most important thing for a great player is decision-making and that improved over the time.

"People say, 'who's the best player in the world' and plenty of people rightly say Lionel Messi - you can't dispute that opinion. But Ronaldo could play for Millwall, Queens Park Rangers and Doncaster and score a hat-trick - I'm not sure Messi could do it.

"Ronaldo's got two feet, quick, brave in the air. I think Messi's a Barcelona player."